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- Topic: Swahili >
- "Hodi hodi!"
31 Comments
319
I used to live in Tanzania. It's definitely relevant. This is something you would hear if your neighbor came over, but had their hands full and couldn't knock on the door to let you know they are there. Basically, it means, "Can I enter?"
1452
People used to do that where I worked. We worked in cubicles, so there were no doors and our backs were to the entrance. If someone came to your cubicle "door" and didn't want to scare you, some would say, "Knock knock".
1003
I got excited seeing this and was like, "AYE!!"
Glad to see I'm not the only one who noticed the connection
768
Of course, many traditional huts did not have a door to knock on at all. So saying "hodi hodi" was a way of making a guest's presence known.
579
Saying "knock" or "knock knock" is an integral part of the cultures of Africa I have experienced. It is a way of asking for permission to enter one's homestead or door without physically knocking on something. Other examples,
Ndau = dododo , reply is "gumai" literally meaning "arrive" Shona = gogogoi, reply is "svikai" literally meaning "arrive" Ndebele = qoki qoki, reply is "ngenani" literally meaning "enter"
477
While living in Japan I did notice people used it for both entering and leaving. I'd say it to my boss before leaving, and other people would say it when they wanted to enter or leave. (I worked at a school, fyi)
I am hoping others might share something about the etymology, but it's not really clear to me that it's not onomatopoeic. Looking at animal "sounds" from a variety of languages, many are explained as just that - "the sound the animal makes". But they can be very different! Except for often being repeated. "Hav hav! Wolf wolf! Oink oink! Ghrutu ghrutu!" Etc.
As in orange - Swahili "o" is always open/rounded [ɔ] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open-mid_back_rounded_vowel
429
I wonder what the origin of this is. In English, "knock knock" is an onomatopoeia, a word that sounds like what it means. Other examples of onomatopoeias include "bang", "pop", "meow", "crash". This is clearly not an onomatopoeia, does it have a literal meaning?